I'm going to assume you're not an idiot, this thread isn't an excuse to go out and hurt yourself to make up a new crack. I don't think I know any crack that deliberately crack towards your body, rather the crack is always directed away. Thou sometimes it will hit me or the rebound from the crack, or on the way to the crack.

Also: WEAR PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT: a hat, a long sleeved top, and glasses. Aussies would recommend a wide brimmed hat, so you can tell if it's close to your face. But the best protection is learning to crack 'softly' and not force the whip. Once your confident, and you know where the whip 'is' in the space around you, you can learn how to crack it loudly and safely.

The throw: Starting out from behind you, you pull your arm forward and the crack happens where you point your arm, out in front of you. (as if throwing a spike underhand to a target in front of you)

The flick: from spinning the whip in a circle, you kinda flick a crack out using a punching-esque motion and the whip keeps going in the same direction as it started out.

Cattlemans crack: A typical direction change crack, starts with the whip laying on the ground, point behind you, you bring your arm up and the whip makes a big circle, as it's going over your shoulder, your change it's direction by extending your elbow and the crack occurs out in front of you.

Coachman's Crack: A cattle mans crack but you wait a lot longer from the crack and extend your arm downwards, so that the crack is next to your ear or above your head on that side.

Really there's only two crack's I know, a throw and a direction change crack, occuring at different places, but I'll go on to describe some patterns.

Figure of Eight - a cattlemans crack, and then the back crack version the other way, with a long drag of the whip inbetween.

Volley - (also called "fast figure of eight") Like a fast version of the above, a cattlemans crack and then on the rebound there is an immediate back crack. And so on continuously. (can be high or low or horizontal...)

Cow and Calf - (also called "whoosh - bang") A throw but pulled up after the crack and using that circle to do a cattlemans crack. And so on, continuously. (can be anywhere, high, side to side, up and down or low side to side. probably back hand up and down too.)

Snakekiller: Doing continuous flicks downwards, alternating from each side of the body. (As if trying to kill a snake on the ground in front of you.)

Meg's favourate pattern: Doing a throw behind your body in wall plane, pulling it forward on the rebound into cow and calf and after the cattlemans crack doing a throw from the otherside of the body.

Tasmanian Twist: I seem to recall it being a figure of eight, then you mangle the planes and do what is essentially a cattlemans crack BTB. But it usually points a little more down than normal.

Arrowhead: Volleys, but done in a special way: Volley back on one side, volley in front, and then volley back on the otherside of your body. making a V shape if viewed from above, hence the arrowhead.

Suicide Crack: Volleys, but done with both hands on the whip, in front and behind you, like the standard volley, but this time directly in line with your body, and the whip passes in a circular motion (well it goes forward on one side and backwards on the other) around you, making you look quite insane.

and the double cracks I know: (mostly names from aussie whipcracking competitions.)

The Train:

The cow and calf, in both hands, staggered (not full split time,) with the throw (the calf) a softer crack that the cow. Done so that it sounds like a train.

The Southern Cross:

"A crack to the Front immediately followed by an under the arm crack to the back then over head crack to one side followed immediately by a crack to the other side finished with a kinda helicopter wind up to an emphasized horizontal crack about 45 degrees to the front of the first side again. 5 cracks to different points representing 5 stars in the southern cross (famous constellation in the Aussie sky - as seen on our flag). " - thanks to pyrolific

Simple weave thing:

Continuous flicks out in front of you, from both hands, in a two beat weave. (flicks alternate sides of the body.) Same can be done in the three beat weave.

The arrowhead can also be used in a weave.EDITED_BY: mcp (1184585329)

"the now legendary" - Kaskade"the still legendary" - Kaskade

I spunked in my friend's aquarium and the fish ate it. I love all fish. Especially the pink ones. They are my bitches. - Anon.

3 hours is a long drive just for a few hours of playing with whips at a convention before another 3 hour drive back home.It hardly seems worth it when you're spending more time in the car than playing.

I think it's almost time to dust off my whips and start playing again. Maybe towards the end of this year I'll find somewhere to practise when it starts getting cold - otherwise they'll just get left on a shelf through the winter again.

But there's no sense crying over every mistake. You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.

Posted:26th Apr 2009Ooo that was cool, I have the dvd that Simon Martin Created and it has really helped me learn some tricks.

Any who i thought i might post my progress.

So i finally got round to getting a shorter whip and it has helped me no end. My first one although it is a really loverly whip is about 8-9 foot and is really heavy which made learning tricks really hard. Now i have a foot cheepie and it has helped me learn the tricks so i can now do them on the 8-9 foot.

So far i have :in both hands and in both planes(-basic cattlemans -backwards cattlemans -figure of 8)-coachman's crack

and now I'm working on getting the volly but it is really hard so any tips would be super great!!!EDITED_BY: ElectricBlue (1240714372)

Once you can do it both ways, you've got all the parts of the volley sorted - a volley's just a continuation of the fast figure 8 where the whip bounces forward -> backward -> forward again etc.. with no extra swinging the whip around in between.

Also, this might help..

But there's no sense crying over every mistake. You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.

Posted:4th May 2009Originally Posted By: TheBovrilMonkeyHave a look at this..

Learn that forwards, then learn it backwards too.

Once you can do it both ways, you've got all the parts of the volley sorted - a volley's just a continuation of the fast figure 8 where the whip bounces forward -> backward -> forward again etc.. with no extra swinging the whip around in between.

Posted:1st Jun 2009i dunno how to put this, and i am just putting it out there.

i have been cracking whips for many years, on and off, competed a little, targets, tricks and freestyle, nothing too serious, but, have learnt from a guy, micj denigan, the guy from "micks whips" in the first vid posted on this thread.

i'd be happy to show people around perth how to crack whips, give pointers, maybe even learn from you guys, it is something which makes people stand back and watch, i dont do it enough as it draws so much attention in my street. but would be happy to do it somewhere subtle.

in return, i would love it if someone would be able to show me a few "moves" with poi, i think it would be the natural progression, but willing to give it ago.

Hi there. I've been working on whip recently with an eye toward spinning a fire whip. I can do the basic cracks (Cattleman's, Coachman's, Overhead, Slow Figure 8), and have a basic idea of how whips move, and I'm wondering what one can do with a whip besides crack it.

According to the internet at large, the answer seems to be...very little. I've looked around quite a few places, I've found some advice on body wraps. I know there are things to do besides body wraps and cracks, because I've done them. Isolations and stalls, for starters; the former aren't all that interesting, but you can do some pretty cool things with stalls, like creating a loop that circles most of the way around your torso without actually touching you. And tosses, which I guess are pretty obvious.

I presume there are more things to do with one whip (it's not hard to come up with things to with two, since that opens up lots of possibilities for patterns). A cursory look at this thread reveals mostly instructions on cracks, but I bet you guys have some other ideas of ways to play with a whip. Any suggestions?

Posted:4th Aug 2009Originally Posted By: ElectricBlueI'm on the hunt for a place to buy a nice pair of 4'stock whip.

At the moment I'm not looking for something to fancy/expensive because i am still learning and my whips take a fair beating.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I've been looking at getting a pair of the Latigo cowhide whips on here. Same position as you, take too much of a beating still to invest in nice redhide. Pm me if you want a few more options, have a few more places bookmarked at home ::)

but I bet you guys have some other ideas of ways to play with a whip. Any suggestions?

I all depends on your whip.You can buy whips that don't have a burning tip, they can double as a jumprope.

Another trik you could practice is extending your whip on the floor. Now if you give it a nice wave motion from the handle it will roll up at the tip and form a full circle you can drag for a few seconds.

Oh there is a legio of tricks you can do with a whip, the real question is, what do you want to do with it and afterwards just try if it works. the whip is one of the most versatile toys I suppose, it can flo and crack, extend and retract. just try and see if something works.

Posted:4th Jun 2011neon shaolin you really shouldnt crack a whip when its wet. i dont know about kevlar whips in that regard. but if a leather whip is properly wet youll be doing it alot of stretching damage by cracking it. does look awesome but its not worth it

Due to the amount of extra things that you can do with a whip I will keep my response short and post the concepts (Unless you want a book on the whips uses).

Poi - Many moves can be used such as the stalls and isolations you mentioned; plus all your weaves look really cool with two whips, and can be done with fire whips.Rope dart moves - almost all rope dart moves can be changed over.Puppy/Meteor hammer, a large portion can be used just shifting the balance point.Double staff - use the handle of two stock whips.Juggling - a great way to end a fire routine anyways, just throw it up under your leg and catch it.Grappling hook - I have even managed to use a whip to wrap tree branches and guide trees down away from houses when cutting them.Mixed media - roll a staff down the length, use it to pass objects.Partner whip - if you can cattleman's crack, you can also do it while face to face with someone else is doing it.Throws and passes - try it with a partner!Contact staff/juggling - looks and feel awkward, but you can be walking around with the whip around you and instead of just unwrapping it, do sliding 'arm rolls' to get it loose.Hat tricks, rope tricks, aerials - these are fun to incorporate like ways to take the whip on and off.Games - Marco polo in a huge field at night.Signalling - Need to find a friend at a music festival? Trust me, you will also sell much more if you are a vendor.Combat - the whip is by far one of the most versatile weapons ever devised. There's much more, but my arm is too sore from whip practice to type. Don't think about it as a whip, think about it as the combination of a staff, baton, meteor hammer, rope dart, grappling hook, target practice, juggling club, etc. and you could sit alone in a room for 100 years and not come up with all the ways you could handle a whip.

Posted:20th Jul 2012Hello, Ladies and Gentlemen.I am a part time fire performer, and I crack whips at competition levels. When it comes to competition, The best routines are:The Felandy Hoofbeats: Basically mimicking the beats of a horse while cracking two whips. There is a video of Adam Winrich performing said routine.Ben's Helicopter: A routine where a volley is started in one hand, while a whip is cracked repeatedly above the head. It starts of with a SLOW HELICOPTER, before moving to a FAST HELICOPTER, before finally volleying in the overhead plane.The final routine I can think of, that is available to every and all two-handed whip crackers, is the Intertwine. Basically, a volley is cracked in the frontal wall plane, while the other repeatedly cracks the whip THROUGH the volley, INTERTWINING the cracks.For more information on beginners routines, check out Simon Martin, and his range of DVDs. His most helpful is Two Handed Whip-cracking, Level 1.Hope this helps.